News

Waitrose looks to take on its rivals with online drive

WAITROSE has struck a deal with online retailer Ocado enabling it to pursue an aggressive expansion of its online grocery business outside London and the M25.

Waitrose, which is wholly owned by the John Lewis Partnership, has been hampered from enlarging its Waitrose Deliver service because the partnership owns a minority stake in Ocado, the dotcom business that delivers Waitrose groceries.

The two groups quietly signed a five-year contract before Christmas which gave Ocado exclusivity in London and the M25 but allowed Waitrose to roll out its Waitrose Deliver service to cover 125 of its supermarkets.

The commercial details of the agreement have not been disclosed.

The contract aims to resolve the animosity between the two sides. Ocado claims it had the right to shut down Waitrose Deliver during the first few years of its contract, but did not exercise that right.